Digital Version of The Last of Us Playable During Download

Next to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is shaping up to be one of this year’s biggest games. And when it hits, Sony will rightly give it the special treatment. As soon as the game is available digitally, on June 14, users will be able to start playing once the download reaches 50 percent. Sony mentioned the feature at its PlayStation 4 event in February, but we have yet to see that support in any current generation console.

Steam allows users to start playing select PC games after a download starts—it shows that the PlayStation 3, for what little life is left, still has some untapped potential. The Last of Us is an enormous title, and Sony obviously wants folks to access it as quickly as possible. It’s unclear if any other upcoming PS3 game will take advantage of the feature—or if consumers even care—but it’s a nice little added bonus for what is surely going to be a nice sending off for Sony’s aging console.